


Fake Flowers

by LuckySevens



Category: Epic Mickey (Video Games)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Non-Graphic Violence, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26048332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckySevens/pseuds/LuckySevens
Summary: On a rainy night, years after the Thinner Disaster, Oswald's sanctuary on Mickeyjunk Mountain gets a very unexpected visitor. He should probably be happy, or even overjoyed, but it seems far too good to be true...
Relationships: Ortensia & Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Fake Flowers

The first few storms had been nerve-wracking.

The mountain wasn't exactly built with safety regulations and sound engineering in mind. It was quite literally a dump, where things were simply tossed with the hopes of never seeing them again. Even if the mountain below all of it had been sturdy at one point, he was certain all the stuffed animals and lunch boxes had to have taken their toll on it.

So the first time heavy rain had hit, with the kind of intensity that would turn out to be the new normal, he had spent the night clutching at his chair, waiting for the rain to jostle loose just the right doll so that the entire thing came crashing down like a giant house of cards. The second time, he'd managed to distract himself, scrubbing away at the carpet. The third time, the fear had worn off enough that he could nap.

After that, he was certain that the mountain was solid enough. Apparently slapping Mickey's face on anything made it truly immortal.

He'd come to almost enjoy the stormy nights. Settling down in his chair, old blanket wrapped around his mid-section, carefully tending to his small and inadequate looking collection of merchandise of himself, the metal fortress almost seemed cozy. The torrential downpour gave him a reason to be happy he was inside it, and the thunder was smothered by the walls much better than it was in the Ostown houses, a fact that his sensitive ears were grateful for. Sometimes, he'd join the card guards' conversations: they always scrambled in at the first sight of a raindrop, practically climbing over each other to get indoors. They told him it was a paper thing.

One night, after the storm had already been raging for quite a while, they'd ran, panicked, into his inner room, and before he could say anything one of them had slammed the button to lower the security doors. They pulled themselves into a deck in the farthest corner of the room, trembling together, leaving just the Ace in the front.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

He grabbed the small thinner jug he kept nearby as he spoke, holding it tightly but carefully. The mountain got its fair share of unpleasant visitors, inky or mechanical, but he'd never seen his guards act like this. They'd willingly stayed with the job after the Thinner Disaster, when it became clear that their roles weren't going to be ceremonial anymore, and had risen to the occasion.

It took a while for one of them to answer.

"G-Ghost..."

He deflated, loosening his grip on the jug.

"What, this is all 'cause someone from Bog Easy is here?" he asked.

"N-no...", came the stuttered reply, "it's not a toon drawn to be a ghost, it's a-a..."

"Oswald?"

He dropped the jug.

The voice was high pitched, the sweetest sound he'd ever heard, and it physically hurt him to hear it sound so confused and sad. The shock kept him from moving much, only shuffling slightly to pull his feet away from the small thinner puddle he'd now have to deal with. The voice called out again, closer.

"Oswald?"

Her arms were tucked around herself, trying to mitigate her violent shivering, when she appeared in the doorway, kept out by the gate. Her skirt was soaked, clinging to her legs, and her hat was similarly waterlogged and drooping. At some point she must've lost her hat's daisy, a thought that made Oswald's ears fall.

The sight of him brought a slight smile to her lips, but the same wasn't true for him seeing her. Though a surge of joy moved through him, he couldn't bring himself to do anything but look concerned. He couldn't remember ever seeing her so ragged. A sense of urgency filled him, urging him to take action. The cards needed to get out of there so he could get her wrapped in a blanket, hold her close to warm her up, assure her that just as soon as the rain stopped they'd go to Clarabelle and ask her for a new flower.

His arm reached for the button to raise the gates, but he hesitated. Maybe it was the terrified yelp he heard from the guards, maybe it was something else. As amazing as it was, as much as he wanted her in his arms, and as much as he was certain that, now that she was there, everything would be better, some tiny part of him was screaming that this wasn't possible.

"Sweetie?" she asked, her smile vanishing. Once it was gone, he felt guilty for not smiling back at her, "W-what happened? What is this place? Where are the babies?"

Lowering his hand, he took a couple of steps towards her.

"Ortensia..." he smiled, weakly, and she eagerly mirrored it, a slightly grateful look on her face, "honeybunch...do you remember anything?"

"No," she answered, immediately, "I woke up in Dark Beauty and it was destroyed and it was raining and...I checked my house, but you weren't there and they said you were up here..."

She looked around the bleak, metal room, glancing behind her to further take in the outside sanctum. A particularly loud clap of thunder rumbled through the place, mixing with the sounds of heavy rain pounding on the ceiling, making it seem even less pleasant than it already was.

"I-I can't imagine why. But, I'm happy I found you!" she said, her smile turning into a grin as she thrust her arms through the bars, reaching for him. The rabbit immediately averted his eyes, glancing at the still-trembling cards, then settling on the floor. The last thing he wanted to see was her wonderful, warm smile deteriorating. This place couldn't afford to lose any more warmth.

"Yeah, trust me, I don't really wanna be up here, either," he said, with a humorless chuckle.

"Oh Ozzie, please, I just...please tell me where our little Oswalds are?" she said, clasping her hands in front of her, "You know they hate thunderstorms. They need their mama and daddy."

She pulled her arms back to herself, burying her face in her hands. Despite the muffled sound, it was very clear she was on the verge of crying.

"Or at least their mama, if you're having one of your...your...oh Oswald, is this about Mickey again?"

Taking in a deep breath, the rabbit moved to the gate. Carefully, quickly, he reached through the bars, brushing just under her ear, making her look up at him, with her clear eyes.

"It's okay," he said, forcing a neutral expression onto his face, "The babies are fine; I made sure they were safe before the storm hit. They're all in Ortensia's house. The real Ortensia's house."

The cat looked like she'd just been punched in the face, which made him feel like he got punched in the gut.

"Sweetie...what are you imp-"

"I wasn't drawn yesterday," he snapped, sneering. Immediately he regretted the biting tone in his voice.

"Look. I don't got anything against you," he said, though he wasn't completely sure if it was the truth. The mix of emotions he felt looking at her, love, hatred, frustration, longing, and a few others he had a hard time pinning down, made his stomach churn worse than anything he'd felt before. He forced his tone to be stern, but comforting; the type of voice he or Ortensia would've used to try and coax one of their children into telling them their problems.

"It's not your fault you were created by a horrible toon doing horrible things," he continued, "...I know you didn't actually go there, so you didn't see, but Animatronic Goofy lives in Ostown. You can wait out there for the storm to let up if you want, but then, go talk to him. He'll find somewhere for you to stay."

There was silence for a moment, the two looking their own respective versions of broken, before she giggled.

"Oh, but I don't want to talk to him, honey bunny."

Her hands gripped the metal bars so hard they bent slightly, her smile getting just a bit too wide.

"I wanna talk to you. Right now."

The rabbit turned away from her.

"Or...if you really don't wanna talk right now..." her words took on just the slightest hint of a sinister tone, one that didn't belong in that voice, "...I can go talk to our little ones!"

He moved immediately; if he allowed himself a moment to think about it, he couldn't go through with it. Without a word, he spun around and kicked through the bars with all the power he could muster, catching her in the center of her chest. With just the briefest look of hurt and a loud crunching sound, she went sprawling down the ramp.

"If you or the Mad Doctor get anywhere close to any of my babies," he yelled, "I swear I'll...I'll..."

The animatronic's body twitched at the end of the ramp. Her...it's chest was caved in, the head partially severed from the neck. The hat was long gone, sliding off into a dark corner of the room, and part of the fur around one leg had ripped open. Each injury should have made him feel better, reassured him that he had been right, but he found it near impossible to see the grotesque scene as anything but his wife, and it sent him running from the gate. Placing both hands on a nearby counter, he forced in deep breaths, repeating to himself that it was just a machine, not his beloved, warm, incredibly sweet, Ortensia. It wasn't his wife. It wasn't her.

She was still gone. Nothing had changed from yesterday, or the day before, or last year...

"What are you all waiting for?" he eventually managed to bark out in the card's direction, slamming his hand down on the gate button, "Go get it! I'm sure the gremlins can use it for scrap or somethin'..."

They scrambled from the room, leaving him alone.

He would need to call the gremlin in the Gag Factory and ask him to check on Ortensia's home, then keep an eye on it, to make sure no one, or nothing, made their way there. As much as he wanted, desperately, to run down the mountain and look for himself, taking comfort in the children's safety, in how happy Ortensia would be to see them all okay, and in their little kisses and hugs, it wasn't an option. It wasn't safe in this weather, and he couldn't rule out the possibility of this whole thing being a trap meant to lure him away.

Once the storm cleared, the guards could cover for him for just a bit. Then he'd go see for himself. For now, he steadied himself, and moved towards the phone. After the call, he'd just have to wait.

Part of him, a tiny, irrational part, hoped that it would end up being a trap. At least then he'd get the chance to rip the Mad Doctor's head off for this.


End file.
